Find out what’s been happening on the rail network in your area
BRITAIN’S railways recorded their ninth successive year with no passenger or workforce fatalities as a result of train accidents in 201516 - the longest period on record.
The figures are contained in the RSSB (Rail Safety and Standards Board) Annual Safety Performance Report for 2015-16, released on July 13.
The report also shows that the risk of Signals Passed at Danger (SPADs) fell, with 277 recorded compared with 298 in 2014-15. The overall SPAD risk stood at 54% of the September 2006 baseline level, compared with 64% in the previous year. The number of train accidents occurring in the Potentially Higher Risk Train Accident category was stable at 25.
There were no workforce deaths in 2015-16, and the number of major and minor injuries and shock/ trauma also fell. Passenger fatalities rose from three to eight, but again the number of injuries fell.
Of the ten fatalities at stations (eight passengers and two members of the public), six occurred at the platform edge, although none were related to getting on or off trains. Three fatalities involved assaults, and the tenth was a person who died after being struck by a station sign that fell from its mountings in high winds.
The number of passenger and public assaults in stations and on trains rose by 24% in absolute terms, to 3,737. The RSSB says this was driven by increases in the ‘less serious’ categories of crime.
The three level crossing fatalities in 2015-16 were all pedestrian users, and the report reveals the lowest number of level crossing deaths recorded since 1996-97. The number of train collisions with vehicles (four) was also the lowest for ten years.
The number of suicide fatalities fell from 287 to 252 in 2015-16, as did non-trespass incidents for members of the public. The RSSB says this reduction was helped by “at least” 1,100 interventions by railway staff to help vulnerable people. However, trespass fatalities rose from 27 in 2014-15 to 30 in 2015-16.
While improvements were made in many of the main measures used to assess safety performance, the RSSB acknowledges: “There are clear challenges that the industry is facing in other areas, such as managing risk at the platform edge and managing assaults on trains and in stations.”
RSSB Director of System Safety George Bearfield said: “Britain’s railways are not only one of the safest in Europe, but also by far the safest form of land transport in this country.
“The achievements on safety are being made at the same time that record numbers of people are using the railway, and that doesn’t happen automatically. It’s down to a dedicated rail workforce looking after each other, their customers and the wider public, combined with our industry’s mature and open approach to incident reporting.”